Tuesday, 1 January 2019

Monty Monkey pattern

I know you haven't heard from me for a while and really no excuse, lots of grandchildren and I just got out of the habit of posting.

We are summer time here in this part of the world and today is such a hot day 31 degree C or 87 F so I have all the doors and windows open as I sit at my PC.

My latest pattern is a fun little monkey that I'd had in mind for ages, when my son was about four I made him one with Velcro on its hands and feet...the monkey spent most of his time attached to a tree or around my son's neck.

He's rather cute and reasonably easy to make using just small quantities of craft fabric you can find the pattern here.here

Monday, 21 August 2017

Embroidered Pincushion tutorial

I do love to do simple embroidery, small projects that are quick and oh so cute.

I've had such a lot of fun using this simple bunny to embellish my work, pincushions, pocket detail and whatever really, so I thought I'd share it with you.

Cut one 7'' square of white or cream fabric, cotton or linen, either will be lovely. Transfer the design onto the fabric making sure you centre it, I find it easier to just trace my design with a soft pencil, but use the method you prefer.

Cut one 7'' square of lightweight fusible batting and press it onto the back of your work after you have transferred the design.

Using an embroidery hoop to hold your fabric embroider the outline of the bunny using two strands of DMC embroidery floss. The eye is done with a French knot and the nose just a small straight stitch. To do the tail just use a series of bullion stitches, now these don't have to be perfect to create a good look just as long as they look like a fluffy tail.

The leaves and flowers are done using lazy daisy stitch and just one strand of DMC thread.

To make up the pincushion

Trim your embroidery to a 5 1/2 '' square making sure you have the embroidery exactly in the centre.

Fold the small borders or peeps as I call them in half lengthwise and press, position the top and bottom peeps 1 3/8'' from the top and bottom raw edges of your embroidered front. At this stage before attaching these you can add a trim, it can be lace or ric rac etc, stitch it in place so that the folded edge of the peep will cover it.

Having the folded edge toward the centre and the raw edge toward the outer....stitch the top and bottom peeps in place using a 1/4 inch seam.

Now attach the two side borders using the same technique.

Place the outer border right side facing down on top of the first border 'Peep'lining up the seams and stitch in place using a quarter inch seam, press open.

Stitch the top and bottom borders in place using the same method, press open and at this stage you may have to trim the edges slightly to bring it back to the original 5.1/2 inch square.

Place your front face down on the back piece and using a quarter inch seam neatly sew the two together leaving a two and a half inch opening for turning.

Trim the corners carefully, turn through and stuff with fleece.

Using a slip stitch sew the opening closed, you can see I've added a little decorative tag just to finish the look.

Below is my hand drawn rabbit image, print it out on A4 and use to create something sweet.

Sunday, 25 June 2017

Playing with fabric

Have you ever seen such sweet fabric, bunnies, strawberries, flowers and gingham, all the elements to delight the maker.

When this fabric first came out I thought how absolutely delightful and I bought it of course . It was the soft colours and checks that first drew me in although the other designs from the range are just as lovely.

Tuesday, 11 April 2017

Easter treats, it's all about presentation

Sometime the simplest things turn out so well, ribbon, tulle, little mini eggs and the sweetest gift tags. That's all it takes to transform a small bag of foil wrapped Easter eggs into a gorgeous gift. I love to present well, even the smallest gift can be elevated into such a delight.

This is the fourth year I have tulle wrapped my eggs, different ribbon and cards but the same idea.

This year I thought to share it with you.

Cut out the stiffish tulle into 12 '' squares

Choose 1 '' wide organza ribbon and cut into 24 '' lengths

Print out your choice of image onto light weight card, this year I found this darling free image on Pinterest kindly shared by Kelli and I think it makes these.

Trim the cards and clip the corners with a punch if you have one. This is the only card making punch I own and it truly finishes off the look. I then tied narrow ribbon to my cards about 9 '' length, I went with the palest of blue as my theme is pink and blue.

Put the eggs in the center of the tulle and draw up the four corners, tie the pink ribbon and attach the tag. Fan out the top of the tulle so that it looks lovely, trim ribbon ends if they need it.